Very well written Terry! If you keep writing this way and about these topics you'll find yourself on a one way train ride to a gritty, old yellow brick building with black smoke coming out the chimneys.
Our violent actions come both from our nature and the environment we're raised in. I think it's a mix of the two. Violence and injury can be curbed by empathy with action on a grand scale. Consider the response to the polio academic. Faith can also tap down hate. But faith can easily be manipulated by religion both by the nature of people and the environment.
I'm tired of all this conflict and hate going around. The U.N.- forget about it. If a person can just try to do one nice thing for another each day we'd have a lot more peace. This doesn't show intellectual growth, it shows doing the right thing and where it comes from is irrelevant. However, good acts bring joy. Joy is different than pleasure. Christmas shouldn't be a big f***ing deal, it should be everyday. People don't even want to say Christmas but they'll effortlessly say the word above with the stars.
Look, when I was a young man I had all the answers. After law school I had all the questions. Now at 64 I'm just confused. I doubt intellectuals like Freud and Einstein can figure this out any more than you or I can. Certainly, all the "smart" people we allegedly have often cause a lot of damage to others.
Hey Michael, Thanks for reading! Yes, I want to avoid that yellow brick building! Although it could be nice -- like one of those old factories in downtown Milwaukee that are now hipster cafes.
More uplifting topics are on the way, I promise. I'm just finishing a book called a Philosopher's Guide to Happiness. Hopefully there will be some nice takeaway points that could help some of us doom scrollers out there.
Faith, religion, morality... certainly. Hugely important topics. I will surely get into them. I'm looking for an excuse to get deeper into C.S. Lewis. In other words, topics and ideas from the heart, not just the intellect, as you suggest.
I totally agree with you that individually striving toward moral action could solve so much that is wrong with our societies. And I often feel like you at 45. More confusion instead of answers. That is why I started to write again, which helps me work though this confusion and questions I have about everything.
I would love to hear more about your experience in law school.
Speaking of Christmas, it was great to see you in Door County!!!
Terry if you could write me on my e-mail that would be better for me. I sent an e-mail today on this site and it didn't go through. My e-mail is mts2jms@att.net
I very much enjoyed this. I did not know about the correspondence.
Freud understands violence and self-interest as intrinsic to human nature. Madison had already taught us to create a government that takes human nature into account. That is not easy, but it is part of the solution.
The same holds on the IR level. A problem with the UN is that it doesn’t consider human nature: The General Assembly is a mob - raw democracy driven by base motives, not overarching values.
You mentioned Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. From Putin’s viewpoint, he had cause – feeling surrounded by a threatening NATO.
Hamas, in its barbarism, sees itself as justified in trying to exterminate Israel. It explained why in a statement issued on October 7 and its founding charter.
Individuals, nations, and nonstate actors may be violent, self-interested, and dangerous, yet they need alibis and justifications to “civilize” their actions. You made me think. Keep writing.
Thanks Elliot! So much to write about. This was a hard piece. I tried to stay closer to the text. Pretty dense stuff (hopefully I made it more digestible). Thank you for the encouragement! I will definitely write about Israel and Russia.
On NATO, I think Putin used NATO expansion as a pretext to attack while his ambition for doing so was more a reflection of his obsession with history (to make Russia great again - and cement his place in Russian history). And we do know he is obsessed with history.
The idea put forth by some like John Mearsheimer that the West is really at fault for pushing NATO on Russia is, I think, a sign of how good Russian propaganda is. NATO was always a purely defensive alliance, entered into by the free will of sovereign nations. Why should Russia have a say over what former Soviet Republics or so called "buffer states" do now? The problem is this: Russia believes it is entitled to an empire. As long as it believes this, we are in for trouble.
On Israel, uff.... Too much to write about. Now the genocide question at the IJC - a total sham. Would love to read what you have to say on that.
Very well written Terry! If you keep writing this way and about these topics you'll find yourself on a one way train ride to a gritty, old yellow brick building with black smoke coming out the chimneys.
Our violent actions come both from our nature and the environment we're raised in. I think it's a mix of the two. Violence and injury can be curbed by empathy with action on a grand scale. Consider the response to the polio academic. Faith can also tap down hate. But faith can easily be manipulated by religion both by the nature of people and the environment.
I'm tired of all this conflict and hate going around. The U.N.- forget about it. If a person can just try to do one nice thing for another each day we'd have a lot more peace. This doesn't show intellectual growth, it shows doing the right thing and where it comes from is irrelevant. However, good acts bring joy. Joy is different than pleasure. Christmas shouldn't be a big f***ing deal, it should be everyday. People don't even want to say Christmas but they'll effortlessly say the word above with the stars.
Look, when I was a young man I had all the answers. After law school I had all the questions. Now at 64 I'm just confused. I doubt intellectuals like Freud and Einstein can figure this out any more than you or I can. Certainly, all the "smart" people we allegedly have often cause a lot of damage to others.
Hey Michael, Thanks for reading! Yes, I want to avoid that yellow brick building! Although it could be nice -- like one of those old factories in downtown Milwaukee that are now hipster cafes.
More uplifting topics are on the way, I promise. I'm just finishing a book called a Philosopher's Guide to Happiness. Hopefully there will be some nice takeaway points that could help some of us doom scrollers out there.
Faith, religion, morality... certainly. Hugely important topics. I will surely get into them. I'm looking for an excuse to get deeper into C.S. Lewis. In other words, topics and ideas from the heart, not just the intellect, as you suggest.
I totally agree with you that individually striving toward moral action could solve so much that is wrong with our societies. And I often feel like you at 45. More confusion instead of answers. That is why I started to write again, which helps me work though this confusion and questions I have about everything.
I would love to hear more about your experience in law school.
Speaking of Christmas, it was great to see you in Door County!!!
Terry if you could write me on my e-mail that would be better for me. I sent an e-mail today on this site and it didn't go through. My e-mail is mts2jms@att.net
I very much enjoyed this. I did not know about the correspondence.
Freud understands violence and self-interest as intrinsic to human nature. Madison had already taught us to create a government that takes human nature into account. That is not easy, but it is part of the solution.
The same holds on the IR level. A problem with the UN is that it doesn’t consider human nature: The General Assembly is a mob - raw democracy driven by base motives, not overarching values.
You mentioned Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. From Putin’s viewpoint, he had cause – feeling surrounded by a threatening NATO.
Hamas, in its barbarism, sees itself as justified in trying to exterminate Israel. It explained why in a statement issued on October 7 and its founding charter.
Individuals, nations, and nonstate actors may be violent, self-interested, and dangerous, yet they need alibis and justifications to “civilize” their actions. You made me think. Keep writing.
Thanks Elliot! So much to write about. This was a hard piece. I tried to stay closer to the text. Pretty dense stuff (hopefully I made it more digestible). Thank you for the encouragement! I will definitely write about Israel and Russia.
On NATO, I think Putin used NATO expansion as a pretext to attack while his ambition for doing so was more a reflection of his obsession with history (to make Russia great again - and cement his place in Russian history). And we do know he is obsessed with history.
The idea put forth by some like John Mearsheimer that the West is really at fault for pushing NATO on Russia is, I think, a sign of how good Russian propaganda is. NATO was always a purely defensive alliance, entered into by the free will of sovereign nations. Why should Russia have a say over what former Soviet Republics or so called "buffer states" do now? The problem is this: Russia believes it is entitled to an empire. As long as it believes this, we are in for trouble.
On Israel, uff.... Too much to write about. Now the genocide question at the IJC - a total sham. Would love to read what you have to say on that.